Rassie’s tough Bok selection calls: Sacha now in mix to wear No 10 jersey

Some interesting selections could be in store for the Springboks when their Rugby Championship squad is announced this week, said coach Rassie Erasmus, after an inexperienced team produced a top performance to rout Portugal 64-21 in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Heading into the Portuguese match, 14 of the match-23 had a combined total of 25 caps between them, and despite that inexperience and losing a World Cup winner in Andre Esterhuizen to a third minute red card, they rallied superbly to power to a thumping result.

Four of the seven debutants, namely Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Phepsi Buthelezi, Andre-Hugo Venter and Quan Horn scored tries, while Johan Grobbelaar, Morne van den Berg and Ruan Venter also made their mark.

After the game Erasmus admitted that most of the players had put their hands up and could be in the selection mix for the Rugby Championship and could even feature against Australia and Argentina.

“Having seven debutants play, with four of them scoring tries, makes things interesting when it comes to selecting the squad for the Rugby Championship and the trip to Australia,” said Erasmus.

“I promised the whole squad that everyone would get a game today and at least 20 minutes on the field. The way they rewarded us was really unbelievable. I’m very proud of them.

“We will definitely be slowly integrating some of these players into the squad. Some might play against Australia, but then not play against New Zealand, and then come back against Argentina.”

Of the seven players who made their debut, hooker Grobbelaar is the most likely one to get the nod to tour Down Under, while Wessels might also be picked as Erasmus has constantly mentioned him in press conferences over the past few weeks.

Single cap Boks

Of the single digit capped Boks that played against Portugal, Ben-Jason Dixon and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu were brilliant and should be in the squad, while Aphelele Fassi, Salmaan Moerat and Evan Roos can also be confident.

One of the biggest calls to be made will be whether to keep Manie Libbok in the squad. While the flyhalf showed flashes of his brilliance on attack against Portugal, but failed with the boot, missing three of his five kicks at goal.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s rise has seriously put his place under pressure, and if Damian Willemse is fit to tour, along with Handre Pollard that is three flyhalves so Libbok could be left out in the cold.

Erasmus explained that Libbok was in a tough place kicking-wise and that they were trying to help him sort out his issues off the tee.

“I am not a kicking coach and Tony (Brown) is trying to help him. I think if you chat to Naas Botha, there was a time when he went through a dip and he (Libbok) is going through a dip. But his general play is still good. So it’s a tough one to handle” said Erasmus.

“Then Sacha comes out and slots everything, he passes well and he creates tries. I think there is some proper pressure on all the number 10s … Handre, Manie and Gaza (Willemse), because there are some new guys in the team that are doing things.”